Face Yoga: The Weird Beauty Routine Explained

Why not add a little bling to your beauty routine? Now you can -- if you live in Florida and have enough cash to dish out for the, wait for it, 24 carat gold facial. Yep! Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach offers spa patrons the opportunity to have their entire body painted in gold. The thought is karats can help stave off cellulite and prevent aging.

Dubbed the, 'Viagra for hair', this hair conditioning treatment is derived from the sperm of a bull. Combined with a protein-rich Katera root, this treatment promises to help repair broken hair and give it a silky smooth look.

The placenta has another use other than feeding an unborn baby -- as an anti-ageing beauty cream! For the cream, lamb placental extract is taken to create a potent lotion which rich in nutrients and bio-stimulants, promising to revitalise and moisturise your skin.

In Italy, you can indulge (if you could call it that) with a wet hay body wrap. But before you conjure images of a scratchy experience, this treatment has a twist - you soak in a water bed heated to over 100F degrees while you're wrapped in the hay.

The unusual treatment is said to fortify your immune system and stimulate your metabolism.

A favourite with the Japanese Geisha ladies, this unusual facial made from sterilised nightingale bird excrement, is proving to be popular with Western beauty-seekers too. The treatment promises to brighten up the complexion and contains enzymes which act as an effective skin cleanser.

Although a cold beer helps ease the stress away after a hard day, but a beer bath? In West Bohemia, Czech Republic, they believe that beer has super healing powers and have spas around the country offering 'relaxing' beer baths. Apparently beer has skin boosting B vitamins and helps those with high blood pressure.

Not to be outdone, a spa in Japan called Yunessan boasts a giant bath full of Sake, green tea, coffee and even ramen noodles.

In Ethiopia, a butter massage is the beauty treatment to have for women hoping to give their lady parts a 'makeover'. Massaged in butter from scalp to toe, butter is applied everywhere on the body (in and out). The women then sit above a smoke hole in a gymnastic-like pose until the butter melts completely. This bizarre treatment apparently tightens vaginal muscles post-pregnancy.

India's 18 Again "tightening and rejuvenating" cream was advertised through the medium of song and dance.

Rishi Bhatia, chairman and managing director of Ultratech India, told Campaign India: "18 Again is a first-of-its-kind product for women in India. This product is being launched in India post clinical trials conducted amongst women of all age groups under dermatological control.

When we first heard that this weird beauty treatment may well be on the rise again, we had to do a bit of research. And here's what we found out: urine therapy was historically used by the Greeks and Romans to cure all that ailed them. It was also used to, ahem, whiten their teeth. Essentially, the procedure involves drinking your own urine in the hopes you'll look and feel younger. In modern times -- and on shows like 'My Strange Addiction' -- people have been known to drink urine for various reasons. Some scientists have even speculated urine has anti-carcinogenic properties -- which could stave off cancer and wrinkles. No real evidence has been found to support those claims.

The Smooth Synergy Cosmedical Spa in NYC scrubs your skin down with a papaya and mint scrub to take off dead skin and clean pores. But the real kicker is when they strap your booty up to a microcurrent therapy machine to zap away that cellulite.

Milk does do a body good. But the trend toward making your own soap -- to be used when you shower or simply wash your hands -- out of breast milk is, well, a bit extreme. The trend emerged as people started to worry that brand-name soaps were full of chemicals and detergents that would harm their skin (or worse, cause cancer). And since milk is supposed to nourish the epidermis, well, why not turn excess breast milk into something, ahem, usable?

Just because Gwyneth Paltrow swears by this cream -- and its accompanying facial -- doesn't mean you should actually try applying snake venom cream to your face. Apparently, using a cream which has venom as an active ingredient helps plump up the skin (much in the same way botox does).

This popular treatment has become a spa go-to for women around the world who want softer, smoother feet. Essentially, this treatment involves dipping your feet into a tank and letting hungry little fish -- Garra rufa fish -- gently eat away at the dead skin cells that make your skin feel rough. Some places and states have banned the practice for fears it may be unsanitary.

Fire cupping is a natural treatment where a practitioner ignites a cotton ball soaked in alcohol and places it inside a cup. When the cup is placed against a patient's skin, a suction action begins to happen -- which is said to increase circulation. Once "activated," the glass bulbs can be moved to key "energy" points all over the body to boost the immune system and increase blood flow (which will help give skin a natural glow, making patients look younger). A big fan of the procedure is reportedly Gwyneth Paltrow.

A chocolate body wrap? Well sign us up. Sure, there's no scientific evidence to support the claims treating your body to some of the sweet stuff will soothe, smooth and detoxify your skin, but it involves sitting in chococlate for an hour. Sounds pretty tasty to us. Check out the spa devoted to all sorts of chocolatey good beauty treatments.

Yes, it appears face yoga has become a thing, so much so that BuzzFeed recently devoted an entire story to the subject (and we all know editors there only write about something when it's "happening" -- or weird). So what exactly is this odd, but interesting beauty technique?

Essentially, as TotalBeauty.com points out, it's yoga for, well, your face. To quote the site: "Face yoga is a series of exercises that promise to do for your face what yoga does for your body: relax and tone muscles." Face yoga is also said to, ahem, reverse wrinkles and sagging.

It's an anti-aging regime many a star is already bandwagoning -- including Kristen Stewart, Ryan Lochte and Jennifer Aniston. Even yoga-lovers have started to test out the treatment. The Telegraph recently reported on a woman, Danielle Collins -- the Face Yoga expert, who has created a 20-minute face yoga program. The gist? Do the exercises (there are 18 of them) every day, six times a week and you'll give your face a natural "lift."

So what say you: do you buy that facial yoga can give your face a youthful glow? Would you try it? Let us know on Twitter @StyleListCanada.

Click through the above slideshow for other weird beauty treatments from around the world.